11 Comments
Aug 11Liked by Mike Oppenheim

I love this. I think I’m open-minded but I admit, I would be appalled by certain cultural norms…

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Aug 11Liked by Mike Oppenheim

Decent amount of food for thought

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founding
Aug 11Liked by Mike Oppenheim

Very thought-provoking. Thank you! Still, I have to believe moral judgments must be made at certain times. For example, I choose to judge Western values to be superior to, say, Sharia Law. If we don’t make that judgment, then we render ourselves incapable of defending good vs evil. And that would be disastrous for what is good.

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author

My only issue with this is that it doesn’t send the right message to children, even if you want it to, and those children turn into hostile, bitter adults who think retribution is called for… :(

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founding

I believe children need to know the realities of life in our world. I hold these views and am anything but a hostile, bitter adult. It’s all about learning to reconcile reality with goodness and optimism. I believe we must fight those who threaten our well-being. You mentioned globalists. They threaten our well-being by opposing national sovereignty, individual rights and freedom. Should we let ourselves be destroyed by those countries who mean us harm, just so we don’t have to think bad thoughts? It seems to me, doing so would be akin to brainwashing ourselves (and our children).

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author

I understand, but my point is that you've been socialized to believe everything you just wrote.

Oh, and the "hostile and bitter adults" was referring to children whose parents are killed by "good guys" defending "good" and told that their parents were "bad" ( a tough, if not impossible sell). Sorry that I wasn't clear :)

And all my thoughts are just theories from my ego, my socialized mind, trying to find support for MY socialization! ha ha ha :)

Thanks for the counter-thoughts!

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Aug 11Liked by Mike Oppenheim

Definitely food for thought. I guess none of us is as broadminded as we think we are and which side of the fence you were brought up on usually dictates your choices. The horns of a dilemma?

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Aug 12Liked by Mike Oppenheim

I love how you intertwine dialogue about morality and cultural norms as a spin-off of the everyday dilemma of when and how to pass gas!

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Aug 13Liked by Mike Oppenheim

I don’t think slavery is legal in any state. I read that Mauritania in 1981 was the last country on earth to outlaw legal slavery. Of course there is human trafficking but that’s not state regulated or legal

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author

no regulation, and from what i read (UN et al), they don't enforce or punish violations in a "wink-wink" manner...Not sure though if that counts, but in spirit, it's "allowed" in a lot of cultures... Thanks for the update!

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Got it - slavery but not state-sanctioned officially on paper

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